"The way this sort of got spun, it was a little bit more like, 'OK, he got a new contract at Alabama, so he's going to stay at Alabama instead of going to Texas,'" Saban said. "I never considered going to Texas. That wasn't even a conversation.

"I knew that if [Texas coach] Mack [Brown] stepped down, there would probably be an opportunity, but it wasn't something I was interested in doing, not at this stage in my career."

Saban's agent, Jimmy Sexton, had been discussing an extension with Alabama before the season ended. The new deal will reportedly pay Saban about $7 million per year.

"We've been trying to do this thing with Alabama all the way back into the season," Saban said. "It really wasn't about the contract. It was about staying at Alabama, wanting to be at Alabama, wanting to continue to do good things for Alabama and our commitment to the players here, the university and the community."

Saban is 74-14 with the Crimson Tide, including three national championships, in seven seasons. He said all the speculation last week was hard for him, considering his relationship with Brown.

"Mack Brown is the coach at Texas. He deserves the right, based on his body of work, to be able to leave the program the way he wants to leave the program," Saban said. "It wasn't fair to him or to me to be speculating about this job, which I haven't talked to anybody there about.

"Really, the whole thing from my perspective stunk, but there wasn't a hell of a lot I could do about it."

Saban reiterated that he's not leaving Alabama.

"I don't want to go someplace else," Saban said. "I don't know how many times I can say that.

"Maybe this will be what the Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay thing was to the NFL the last couple of years. That kind of ended the pro speculation. Maybe this will end the college speculation. This is where I'm going to finish my coaching career."